An estimated 325 people have been killed by Typhoon Bopha in the central and southern Philippines, with 411 injured and 379 missing, officials said Thursday. Most of the victims were killed by falling trees and flash floods during the height of the storm on Tuesday, dpa quoted the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) as saying. "We have 325 dead and this is expected to rise because many more are missing," Benito Ramos, head of the Civil Defence Office, told a news conference. Disruptions to communications made it hard to determine and update precise casualty numbers, he said. Compostela Valley and Davao Oriental, the two provinces hardest hit, accounted for 220 of the deaths as of late Wednesday, according to the military. Nearly 190,000 people remained in evacuation centres, the NDRRMC said. Several of the shelters, including school buildings, were damaged by winds or mudslides. Authorities said they hoped to restore electricity to affected areas of Davao Oriental "before Christmas, [so] we could light up the areas," Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla said in a radio interview Thursday. The Philippines is hit by around 20 typhoons a year, many of them destructive, but Mindanao has been spared the worst of the damage until recent years.
